Follow by Email

Friday, April 22, 2011

One Last Sad Tale

It's a gloomy, drizzly morning so I may as well finish up the sad Corgi stories. In October, 2008 I brought in a six year old sweet foster Corgi boy I named Charlie because his original name did not fit him and I can't even remember it now. Charlie needed a new home because his human dad had passed away and the widow was physically unable to care for him. My hope was to get him checked out by our vets, up to date on vaccinations, and then find him a new forever home. Unfortunately, Charlie was positive for heartworm and had a fairly heavy load. Since he was young, and in good health otherwise, we decided to treat him. This involved staying in the clinic for the injections of the poison to kill the worms in his heart then keeping him as quiet and stress-free as possible while the dead worms were sluffed into his circulatory system. This is serious stuff!

Charlie was on a variety of medicines to regulate his blood pressure and relieve the build up of fluids and developed pneumonia. He was weakened from the heartworm treatment and pneumonia and started losing weight. So, I cooked ground beef and macaroni and cheese for him on a regular basis. We really thought he was getting stronger as his attitude and appetite improved. However, on Christmas Eve when I took him his dinner I found that he had left us. Our own little Christmas Corgi Angel. A sweet boy who was gone way too soon and I will never forget him.

And here's my warning to all dog owners...get your dog tested and on heartworm preventive. It is not expensive at all when compared to the alternative. Charlie's treatment and meds ran around $800. CorgiAid, a wonderful organization that helps with rescue Corgi medical expenses, paid for his veterinary bills. I was heartbroken and so angry for a while after losing Charlie--it was all so unnecessary and so easily prevented and he was such a sweet dog who deserved much better.

CorgiAid exists through the generosity of donors. Their website is http://www.corgiaid.org/ This is a unique organization as there are very few that provide financial support for the medical treatments that are sometimes necessary for rescue dogs to get healthy and find their new forever homes.